Novels, Novellas, Excerpts
23 stories
The Lean and Hungry Look by MurphyChapelwood
The Lean and Hungry Look
MurphyChapelwood
  • Reads 10,908
  • Votes 346
  • Parts 26
Myth and reality are one. Conspiracies, ancient and modern alike, manipulate every aspect of life, every interaction. Everyone lives blind to secret masters and secret dangers, but it's easy when the monsters look human, or worse, are human. In this world, in a nameless American metropolis, Uaine Dupree leads a desultory life as a penniless club promoter on the fringe of an already fringe society. When he receives a mysterious e-mail from a wealthy recluse, Uaine embarks on a nightlong odyssey of horrors, both new and old. [Formerly Wattpad Featured Paranormal Story from November 2016 until July 2017.]
Growing up Wired by DavidWFleming
Growing up Wired
DavidWFleming
  • Reads 705,422
  • Votes 1,542
  • Parts 3
While on his computer, Victor Hastings admires the provocative pictures of girls he's dating. Meanwhile, these girls are posting more and more on Facebook and all the social sites. Now, all the young men in his cramped fraternity are competing for the attention of these online, amateur pinups. And the institution of the college fraternity itself is beginning to be threatened by this emerging, online phenomenon that, in the fall of 2007, has yet to be identified as "Social Media." Three women will make an impact on Victor. Erin Masters is an alluring yet naïve co-ed. Despite outward modesty, she has no reservations about letting friends plaster her provocative images across various social websites. Emily Green-Portsmith comes from wealth and is comparatively more aware of her effect on young men, both on and offline. Technological reliance, however, does not sit well with the house mother of these fraternity boys. She is affectionately known as Ma Red. This feisty, former Vietnam correspondent from the old-school of etiquette and discipline is prepared to make a fight for her traditional values. And throughout these technological and romantic discoveries, Victor wonders: What kind of love is this? ... the wired kind. He explores the pharmaceutical, social and sexual habits of the digital age. Pills are popped, rebellions spark - a young man matures against a set of difficulties unknown to generations past. Can Victor find meaning in the close sensations of a woman from the real world?
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by CoryDoctorow
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom
CoryDoctorow
  • Reads 40,072
  • Votes 505
  • Parts 12
Jules is a young man barely a century old. He's lived long enough to see the cure for death and the end of scarcity, to learn ten languages and compose three symphonies...and to realize his boyhood dream of taking up residence in Disney World. Disney World! The greatest artistic achievement of the long-ago twentieth century. Now in the keeping of a network of "ad-hocs" who keep the classic attractions running as they always have, enhanced with only the smallest high-tech touches. Now, though, the "ad hocs" are under attack. A new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents, and is replacing its venerable audioanimatronics with new, immersive direct-to-brain interfaces that give guests the illusion of being Washington, Lincoln, and all the others. For Jules, this is an attack on the artistic purity of Disney World itself. Worse: it appears this new group has had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war...
The Dead Man by NoraGold
The Dead Man
NoraGold
  • Reads 916
  • Votes 30
  • Parts 1
The Dead Man is a compelling novel about a woman who is obsessed. Eve, who is both a composer of sacred music and a music therapist, is well aware of the saying, "Physician, heal thyself," but she just can't seem to do this. For some unknown reason, she - a sensible, intelligent professional - can't recover from a brief relationship she had five years ago with a world-famous music critic named Jake. This obsession with Jake is a mystery to Eve's friends, and also to her. In an attempt to solve this and to put this relationship behind her, she returns to Israel where Jake still lives, and where they first fell in love. There she revisits all their old haunts, and struggles to complete the song cycle she started composing five years ago about Jake but hasn't been able to finish. Gradually the dark mystery behind their complex relationship begins to unravel. Eve discovers the forgotten childhood memories, losses, and desires that are part of her connection to Jake. And then, inspired by all the music she hears around her (including the singing of birds, the crying of babies, and the honking of cars), she begins to finally complete her song cycle and setting her obsession to rest. This novel, filled with music and dealing with themes of love, grief, early loss, and the power of art, will resonate deeply with anyone who has ever loved and lost.
Pursuit Of The Cygnus Thief by Roseyone
Pursuit Of The Cygnus Thief
Roseyone
  • Reads 7,863
  • Votes 312
  • Parts 42
1956. Young, motherless Amelia is unfortunate enough to live in a forgotten, cloying, dusty bit of nowhere in the desert called Assumption, where fear, ignorance, envy, secrets, and lust all fester under the California sun. Lecherous Mr. Abel the town Mayor, and embittered Matilda McKee the housekeeper, each do their best to make Amelia's life unbearable. Oblivious to the severity of his daughter's daily predicament, Ernesto promises to take Amelia away from Assumption to a better life someday, but Amelia realizes that her window of escape is rapidly closing. Something unthinkable, dark, and dangerous is on the way, and it is aimed at Amelia. When a mysterious stranger rescues Amelia from an assault, he becomes the focal point of all the ugly Assumption has to offer, forcing Amelia to make a desperate, life altering choice.
Too Old for Old Tricks by WandoWande
Too Old for Old Tricks
WandoWande
  • Reads 186
  • Votes 5
  • Parts 2
A missing teenage girl, a boy dying with cancer, a man clinging to life on a hospital bed ... At the center of the freewheeling catastrophe is Yinka, who's just trying to get through his week without blowing up over his ex-partner's bullshit
Miles & Memories by tamoja
Miles & Memories
tamoja
  • Reads 1,221
  • Votes 116
  • Parts 8
A journey through time measured in miles and memories all connected to a treasured pink Cadillac
Bequest by rowena_wiseman
Bequest
rowena_wiseman
  • Reads 32,537
  • Votes 686
  • Parts 14
Leonard wants to bequeath his tattooed skin to the National Gallery of Australia. He has been almost completely inked by one of Australia's best contemporary artists, but he is a canvas that nobody wants. Strange things start happening to Leonard, Darwin's moth, a tattoo from his calf, flutters around him one night, he wakes with a Cold War gas mask on his head, Mao Tse Tung appears in his bed. Tattoos from his skin come alive before him and he becomes more convinced than ever that his skin is truly precious.
Risk by MarkVictorYoung
Risk
MarkVictorYoung
  • Reads 128,300
  • Votes 4,156
  • Parts 40
Martin is a 38-year-old virgin marked for greatness by the insurance gods. In his professional life, he is paid to assess risk, but in his personal life he plays it safe. Experience has shown him that lonely is better than brokenhearted. George is a wannabe architect with white man's dreadlocks. He risks his neck on the streets of Toronto every day as a bike courier, but his job is unchallenging and he chooses apathy over the risk of failure at what he really wants to do. When George tags along with Martin to investigate the scene of his latest claim, they stumble upon a burglary in process. Now they are being hunted by an unknown adversary who will stop at nothing to get what he's after, forcing Martin and George into a dangerous game of cat and mouse in which they must risk everything. This novel is now complete, but your comments (and votes) are always welcome! Thanks for reading.
Siren Suicides (Second Edition) by kseniaanske
Siren Suicides (Second Edition)
kseniaanske
  • Reads 24,029
  • Votes 1,650
  • Parts 30
On a rainy September morning 16-year-old Ailen Bright flees her abusive father by jumping off the Seattle Aurora Bridge. Instead of a true death, in the water she finds several silver-skinned sirens who convert her to one of their own. As a newborn siren she is dead, supernaturally strong, and hungry for her new sustenance-human souls. Ailen refuses to kill...at first. With time she must face the agony that comes with starvation, while being relentlessly pursued by a siren hunter. An enthralling and dark look into the mind and heart of a suicidal teenager, this urban fantasy follows Ailen's struggle to figure out the meaning of life, her confusing feelings for her best friend Hunter, and her desperate battle for her father's love.